English rose who has never wilted

The protagonist of the 1953 film The Malta Story, Muriel Pavlow, tells Fiona Galea Debono of her admiration for Malta and her still-active acting career.

"If you take any photographs, just don't get that sign (Public Convenience) in the picture," laughs octogenarian actress Muriel Pavlow as we walk towards a bench to sit in the shade just under it.

It is the first piece of evidence of a stream of wit, sense of humour and a keen eye.

Cameras click and fans ask her for autographs outside the Malta at War Museum at Couvre Porte, where the protagonist of the 1953 movie The Malta Story is being taken on a tour... down memory lane.

It is Ms Pavlow's first visit to Malta since and, half a century down the line, she finds the island used to be "much rougher in looks, but still retains a unique quality and personality. I hope they won't alter it too much.

"I wanted to come back (after making the movie), but it just never happened. My husband was an actor (Derek Farr) and we were both very busy. Short holidays had to be grabbed and it wasn't quite as easy as it is now to book a quick flight.

"That's why I am really thrilled to be back. It's lovely to see all the rebuilding that has been going on and all the roads being prepared for the Queen. I should have come a month later," she chuckles.

One thing she is a little sad about is the fact that the Opera House has not been rebuilt. "It's such a shame." But she is hopeful that it will... "It must!"

The Malta Story was around the third movie ever to be shot in Malta, but the British leading lady recalls no dramas from the technical point of view.

"No bits ever went missing, or anything like that," she remembers of the early and cruder days of Malta's film servicing industry.

"I honestly think that if the Maltese side did not have it, they made it overnight. They were wonderful and I have tremendous admiration for them and for the island.

"We knew about the awful struggle that was going on. So to actually come here and see where it all happened with my own eyes was a great honour, quite honestly."

Ms Pavlow was brought over by Merlins Over Malta, in conjunction with the Malta Tourism Authority, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, which still means a lot to her.

"We knew what was going on out here and we were so grateful, if you like, for this great defence," she goes to pains to stress.

It is not just the movie-making side of the war that Ms Pavlow experienced, but she actually lived through it. So she is in a position to say that war films may have been glamorised, but were very true to reality and never exaggerated.

"I was about 20 then and was working in the theatre in the West End. We used to do a matinée at midday and a second show at about 2.30 p.m. so the audience could get home before the Blitz started, you know," she recounts matter-of-factly.

"So one was in the thick of it... But life went on.

"When the run of the play finished, I spent most of the war touring army camps, naval stations and airfields around the UK. We used to do performances in hangars...

"In fact, people always tell me I have such a strong voice. And I say: 'I don't wonder. Have you tried performing in an aircraft hangar? If you don't make yourself heard, they'll just get up and walk out, you know."

In The Malta Story, Ms Pavlow starred as a local girl, Maria Gonzar, and actually looked and sounded Maltese - which is hard to fathom, given the petite lady is an English rose, speaking Queen's English. As regards the accent, "it wasn't easy and I couldn't do it now. (Well, I could if I studied.) But I had help and was introduced to a very nice girl, Maryann Kissaun, with whom I've made contact and am hoping to meet again.

"They had flown me out here about 10 days in advance and I had spent that time with Maryann, listening to her. I'd read a couple of lines from the script and if I was doing something really awful, she'd tell me."

Ms Pavlow also played Miss Marple in the first Agatha Christie movie, Murder, She Said (1962), together with Margaret Rutherford. And, aged 80 plus, she is still active, boasting an acting career that dates back to 15 years old and is still happening, albeit not as intensely as she would like.

The 20-year gap, or so, in Ms Pavlow's filmography, acquired through an internet search, is cause for slight irritation, and she denies there ever was such a lacuna in her life. "I was doing theatre tours in Australia and New Zealand with my husband at the time," she makes it a point to clarify.

"I know the one; I've seen the filmography and I think: oh wait a minute! I was doing something then!"

Chronicling the real course of her career, it was composed of an incredible run of movies in the 1950s, followed by Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon and much TV. But her eyes light up at the mention of theatre and she describes the experience and her roles as "great... lovely... and so enjoyable".

It is clear that Ms Pavlow gets more out of the stage than movies. "I know it sounds corny, but it is the live audience and the danger of acting in the theatre; the fear that something could go wrong; and the funny things; and keeping control.

"May I just say," she politely interrupts to proudly talk about an experience only three years ago, in 2002, when she performed in Austria's English-speaking theatre in the role of Madame La Comtesse in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

"That is a beautiful part for an older actress; it really is!" she insists about the few odd parts she can play these days.

"So you see, I haven't quite left the theatre... I should think, however, that over the past two-and-a-half years, things have definitely slowed down," much to the dismay of a still energetic Thespian.

"There's a lovely story of an actress who was asked what she was doing. She replied: 'Nothing! In fact, I think I've retired and nobody has told me.'

"And honestly, I'm beginning to think that about myself," she laughs.

Today, Ms Pavlow is mainly engaged in little cameos on TV, but she "would not be averse" to doing more. "Then again, sometimes, the thought of getting up early again, you know..."

The once leading lady hardly watches her own movies. "I do have a video of The Malta Story, but - don't laugh - I haven't got a video player!" As regards the DVD era, we won't even venture there! Luckily, she has a friend who is bullying her into buying one and she is about to.

That is not to say that Ms Pavlow is not into movies. On the contrary, she is "in and out of the cinema like a jack-in-the-box".

It's tough pinpointing one of today's actresses in whose shoes she would have liked to be. "Possibly Judi Dench, but I don't have her magnificent touch for comedy. She's unique. Maggie Smith is so watchable too... And now there are a whole lot of new young ones, who I think are very brave.

Their film life is so short. You could say mine was too, but it wasn't really and spanned a period of around nine years, which isn't too bad.

"I'd like small roles for which I am suitable. I can still learn and I retain things," she says as she firmly touches wood. "But it is the concentration that is inclined to wander slightly."

Despite her sharpness, Ms Pavlow almost gives herself a hard time about her lack of it, saying that her memory is not what it used to be. On the contrary, she remembers intricate details.

"We lead such busy lives," she justifies, while struggling to remember the name of a location she filmed in half a century ago - a feat for almost anyone.

But what she does remember with clarity is that she played a love scene there with co-star Alec Guinness, as well as one on a cliff top, which she recalls to have been highly dangerous.

It is not surprising that Ms Pavlow has aged so gracefully. The fact that her eternally youthful countenance enabled her to convincingly play juvenile roles well into her 30s augured well. And yet, there is still a hint of concern about her advanced years.

There may be nothing very diva-like about Ms Pavlow, but neither has she forgotten that she was an icon, and still is, for many a man who, at the time of The Malta Story, were young boys. She is not in the least bit surprised by the attention, but still finds it "touching".

"As a matter of fact, however, I do get very worried when someone is introduced to me, and hope they are not thinking of me as Maria, or in one of my roles in the doctor films, or in Reach for the Skies," as she wouldn't want to disappoint.

"Yes, I have a very loyal following. It isn't vast, but it's sizeable. I feel I'm so lucky."

Ms Pavlow also still enjoys an "energetic" fan mail, which "I'm afraid can pile up at times. Then, I have a big bash at it". She tries to write back to each one... by hand. E-mail is a realm she has not ventured into, despite being egged on by her IT-friendly friends. "I'm hopeless," she admits, throwing in the excuse that "I am an old lady!"

At Couvre Porte, the diminutive heroine of wartime and thriller films signs original posters of The Malta Story, as well as a copy of the original script of the movie, which was bought by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna from eBay and is being displayed in the MTA-sponsored museum.

The Malta Story, in which an RAF reconnaissance photographer's romance with a local girl is endangered while he tries to plot enemy movements, contains plenty of realistic re-enactments and archival combat footage as the British are besieged in 1942 and try to fight off the Luftwaffe.

It is being screened at St James Cavalier on Wednesday at 9.30 a.m., during the launch of the Malta Historic Cities Festival, and is being attended by Ms Pavlow herself.